Public sector workers on strike alert over low wages

With just six weeks left to the general elections, protests over low wages
are spreading across the public sector like wildfire. Thirteen trade union
organizations are now on strike alert demanding that the government deliver
on its promise of a significant wage hike as of November.

Photo: Ondřej Šponiar, Pixabay / CC0 Public Domain
The promised wage hike for public sector workers was to have been an
election gift to voters from the parties of the ruling coalition, but an
unexpected glitch on Monday has drawn rumblings of discontent from workers
around the country; teachers, workers in the health sphere, firemen and
police officers are all worried that the promised wage hike will not
materialize.

On Monday the parties of the ruling coalition failed to agree on a
proposed 15 percent increase for teachers and a 10 percent hike for other
civil servants – differing both on the size of the hike and when it
should come into effect.

Teachers, who are among the worst paid employees in the country, were the
first to react, threatening strike action that could last for several days.
The head of the teachers’ unions, František Dobšík, said time was
running short.

František Dobšík, photo: Jan Bartoněk“We are no longer prepared to stand by and watch this. We are calling a
strike alert in order to get through to the government the message that the
situation is grave, that without the promised finances the education
system, which is already in a crisis, will start to disintegrate.”

No date has so far been set for the strike action, but unions say the
threat of a strike is real and would be supported by 70 to 80 percent of
primary and secondary schools in the country. On Wednesday 12 other trade
union organizations joined the protest, also declaring a strike alert.
University rectors, who are unhappy with the money allotted to them, have
declared “a week of protest” against what they see as neglect of the
academic sphere.

Although the ruling parties had agreed to raise salaries in the public
sector, a move they said was made possible by the healthy state of the
economy, last minute problems have appeared. Finance Minister Ivan Pilný
from the ANO party blocked the Social Democrats’ proposal for a raise as
of November saying the money for a wage hike would not be available until
January of next year and would, in any case, not be enough for the kind of
increase trade unions are demanding.

Deputy chair of the Social Democrats Lubomír Zaorálek said he understood
people’s concerns.

Lubomír Zaorálek, photo: Filip Jandourek“If we do not agree on a raise as of November 1, then those whom it
concerns will be left in uncertainty, it is not certain when the next
government will be formed and whether the country may not have to operate
on a provisional budget.”

Coalition talks on the issue have been put off until next Monday to give
the ruling parties space to reach agreement. Prime Minister Bohuslav
Sobotka said he supported trade unions demands and his Social Democrats
would do their utmost to win over their coalition partners. However time is
running short and fierce party rivalries ahead of the elections are not
likely to help.